Article dispenser having rupturable cells and means to eject articles therefrom



1966 G. J. THOMPSON 3,

ARTICLE DISPENSER HAVING RUPTURABLE CELLS AND MEANS TO EJECT ARTICLES THEREFROM Filed Feb. 8, 1965 VENTOR. 60/200 J THOMPSON d4 2 wasiw A TORNE YS 3,279,651 ARTICLE DISPENSER HAVING RUPTURABLE CELLS AND MEANS T EJECT ARTICLES THEREFROM Gordon J. Thompson, 621 Running Water Circle SE.,

Albuquerque, N. Mex. I Filed Feb. 8, 1965, SenNo. 430,898 Claims. (Cl. 221-88) This invention relates to a pill dispenser and was evolved with the general object of providing a pill dispenser in which one or more pills can be carried in a sealed enclosure and readily removed therefrom when desired, without disturbing the seal of other pills in the enclosure. In accordance with further objects of the invention, a device is provided which is quite simple and very compact, while being easily and economically constructed and readily operated.

The device of this invention is particularly suitable for use with medicinal preparations but can be used with other objects and the term pills is used herein in a generic sense to include objects of a form similar to medicinal pills and also to include capsules or hollow objects.

According to this invention, a dispenser is provided for use with a pill sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pill to define a sealed enclosure therefore, wherein means are provided for engaging the flexible sheet and for pressing the pill through an opening of a wall against which the rupturable sheet is disposed, and to thereby force the pill through the rupturable sheet. With this arrangement, the pill is retained in the sealed enclosure prior to use but is readily released when desired.

An important feature of the invention is in the provision of a plurality of openings in the wall for disposition opposite a plurality of pills disposed between the sheets, such that the pills can be dispensed in sequence. An important advantage is that the dispensing of one pill does not disturb the seal of the other pills.

In accordance with another important feature of the invention, the flexible sheet is engaged by the surface of wedge means carried by a member which is manually movable parallel to the wall against which the rupturable sheet is disposed. The manually actuatable member may be a slide movable rectilinearly, but may preferably be a member rotatable about an axis normal to a planar wall against which the rupturable sheet is disposed. With this arrangement, the openings in the wall may be angularly spaced and at equal radial distances from the axis of rotation of the manually actuatable member.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, a single series or multiple series of openings are provided at one radial distance from the axis of rotation, with a single or multiple series wedge being used, while in another preferred embodiment, two series of openings are provided at different radial distances from the axis, with a pair of wedges being provided.

Other important features of the invention relate to the specific construction of the wedge means and to a specific form of mounting of the walls and actuata-ble members, to provide an eflicient and compact device.

This invention contemplates other objects, features and advantages which will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a pill dispenser constructed according to the principles of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded view illustrating the parts United States Patent 0 7 3,279,651 Patented Oct. 18, 1966 of the dispenser of FIGURE 1 and the mode of assembly thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially along line IIIIII of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along line IV-IV of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale illustrating the manner of disposition of a pill between sheets to form a sealed enclosure; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 4, but illustrating a modified construction.

Reference numeral 10 generally designates a pill dispenser constructed according to the invention, which comprises a pair of parallel disks 11 and 12 of substantially the same diameter which are relatively rotatable about a common axis to cause pills to be ejected seriatim from openings 13, 14, 15 and 16 in a generally planar wall portion 17 of the disk 11, the openings 13-16 being angularly spaced and at equal radial distances from the common axis of rotation of the disks. A pill 19 is shown being ejected from the opening 13 in FIGURES 1, 3 and 4, and pills 20, 21 and 22 are aligned with openings 14, 15 and 16, respectively, for ejection therefrom with further relative rotation of the disks 11 and 12.

The pills 19-22 are disposed in a sealed enclosure generally designated by reference numeral 23 which comprises a sheet 24 of a rupturable material disposed against the inner face of the planar wall portion 17 of the disk 11 and a sheet 25 of a flexible material, the pills 19-22 being sandwiched between the sheets 24 and 25 and the sheets being bonded together about the pills to define the sealed enclosure therefore.

By way of example, the sheet 24 may be of a metallic foil, such as aluminum foil, and the flexible sheet 25 may be of a plastic material. As shown in FIGURE 5, a sheet 26 of paper or a similar material may be disposed between the sheets 24 and 25, with openings therein aligned with the pills. In forming the enclosure, the sheet 25 may be pre-formed with pockets into which the pills are disposed and the sheet 26 may be adhesively secured to the sheet 24, after which the sheet 25 may be adhesively secured to the intermediate sheet 26.

To eject the pills, the disk 12 carries an integral wedge member 27 having a surface 28 for engagement with the flexible sheet 25 at areas thereof aligned with the pills, the wedge member 27 being at a radial distance from the axis of relative rotation of the disks 11 and 12 equal to the distance of the centers of the openings 13 and 16 therefrom. The surface 28 is at an angle to the plane of the disk 12 sufliciently great as to obtain a snap action in rupturing the sheet 24, but at an angle less than that at which excessive friction occurs. Preferably, the angle is on the order from 20 to 60 degrees.

To support the disks 11 and 12for relative rotation while maintaining the proper distance therebetween, the disk 12 has a central opening 29 and has an integral sleeve portion 30 about the opening 29, with the opening 29 and the sleeve 30 being internally threaded to receive an externally threaded shank 31 of a screw member 32 having a knurled head 33' and having an intermediate portion 34 of approximately the same diameter as the outer diameter of the sleeve 30, less than the diameter of the knurled portion 33 and greater than the diameter of the shank 31. The intermediate portion 34 is disposed in opening 35 of the wall 17 of the disk 11, to define a bearing, upon assembly of the parts.

After all pills 19-22 are dispensed from the enclosure 23, the screw 32 may be removed to permit separation of the disks 11 and 12, and an enclosure 23 containing a fresh supply of pills may be placed in position, it being noted that the enclosure 23 has a central opening 36 of 3 a diameter equal to or slightly larger than the outside diameter of the sleeve 30.

Other types of connections may be used in place of the illustrated threaded connection such as a quick disconnect coupling using a radial projection on the shank 31 engageable in a locking groove in the sleeve 30. For a disposable or one-use type unit, a permanent connection may be used, equivalent to making the screw 32 an integral part of the disk 12, eliminating the threaded connection.-

To prevent entry of extraneous matter. into the space between the disks 11 and 12 and also to maintain the disks in properly spaced relation, a generally cylindrical side wall 38 is provided which in the illustrated embodiment is formed integrally with the disk 11, so as to have one end,

secured thereto, the other. end of the wall 38 rides in an annular groove 39 of the disk 12.

To insure registry of the pills 19-22 with the openings 13-16, the side wall 38 is preferably formed with widened portions such as to provide four planar surfaces 40 parallelto the axis of the device and ina square relationship, while the enclosure 23 is formed with a complementary shape. It is noted that suitable indicia may be placed on the device, as for example to correlate particular pills with particular days of the week and for registry, a notch or series of notches may be provided in the edge of enclosure 23 to mate with a stud or series of studs, or inward projections of the wall 38.

It may also be noted that although the disk 11 having the openings 13-16 and the wall 17 thereof is shown disposed above the disk 12 in the drawings, the position may be reversed and the device may be operated in any position.

Referring to FIGURE6, reference numeral 42 generally designates a modified form of pill dispenser which comprises disks 43 and 44 similar to the disks 11 and 12, used with a sealed pill enclosure 45 similar to the enclosure 23, but having an outer series of pills 47 in angularly spaced relation at a certain radial distance from the axis of the device and an inner series of pills 48 at a lesser radial distance from the axis of the device, with a pair of wedges 49 and 50 at corresponding radial distances for ejection of the pills 47 and 48, respectively. With this arrangement, a greater number of pills can be ac- I commodated in a container of the overall dimensions.

It will be appreciated that more than two rows or rings of pills and associated wedges may be provided, staggered or in line, and two or more pills may be dispensed at a time depending upon requirements.

It is noted that in both of the illustrated devices and42, the principal parts may be of a plastic material, which may be readily formed to the required configuration, and the parts may be of a transparent material to permit the user to visually ascertain the number of pills remaining in the device.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a dispenser for use with a pill sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pill to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a generally planar wall having an opening therein slightly larger than the pill, means for holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said wall and with the pill aligned with said opening, manually actuatable means movable in a plane parallel to said wall, and wedge means carried by said manually actuatable means and having a surface engageable with said flexible sheet for pressing the pill throughsaid opening and through said rupturable sheet.

2.In a dispenser for use with a pill sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pill to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a generally planar wall having an opening therein slight- 1y larger than the pill, means for holding said sealed through said rupturable sheet, said surface of said wedge means having an angle to the plane of movement to said manually actuatable means sufficiently great as to' oh-m tain a snap action in rupturing said rupturable sheet.

3. In a dispenser as defined in claim 2, said angle being on the order from'20 to degrees.

4. In a dispenser for use with a pill sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pill to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a wall having an opening therein slightly larger than i the pill, means for holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said wall and with the pill aligned with said opening, manually actuatable means, wedge means carried by said manually actuatable means and having a surface engageable with said flexible sheet for pressing the pill through said opening and through said rupturable sheet, and means supporting said manually actuatable means for rotation relative to said wall to move said wedge means in a path generally parallel to said wall.

5. In a dispenser for use with pills sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pills to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a wall having a plurality of openings therein slightly larger than the pills, means for holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said wall and with the pills aligned with said openings, manually actuatable means movable in a plane parallelto said wall, and a plurality of wedge means carried by said manually actuatable means and having surfaces for engagement with said flexible sheet for pressing pills through said openings and through said rupturable sheet.

6. In a dispenser for use with pills sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded togetherabout the pills to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a wall having a plurality of openings therein slightly larger than the pills, means for holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said wall and with the pills aligned with said openings, manually actuatable means rotatable about an axis normal to said wall, and wedge means carried'by said manually actuatable means and having a surface engageable with said flexible sheet for pressing the pill through said rupturable sheet.

7. Ina dispenser for use with pills sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pills to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a wall having a plurality of openings therein slightly larger than the pills, means for. holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said wall and with the pills'al-igned with said openings, manually ac.- tuatable means rotatable about an axis normal to said wall, and wedge means carried by said manually actuatable means and having a surface. engageable with said flexible sheet for pressing the pill through said opening and through said rupturable sheet, said openings being angularly spaced and at equal radial distances from said axis of rotation of said manually actuatable means.

8. In a dispenser for use with pills sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pills to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a wall having a plurality of openings therein slightly larger than the pills, means for holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said wall and with the I pills aligned with said openings, manually actuatable means rotatable about an axis normal to said wall, said openings being arranged in two series with one series I being angularly spaced and at a certain radial distance I from said axis and with the other series being angularly spaced and at a greater radial distance from said axis,

and a pair of wedge means carried by said manually actuatable means and having surfaces engageable with said flexible sheet for respectively pressing the pill of said two series sequentially through said openings and through said rupturable sheet.

9. In a dispenser for use with pills sandwiched between a flexible sheet and a rupturable sheet bonded together about the pills to define a sealed enclosure therefore, a planar wall having a plurality of openings therein slightly larger than the pills and arranged in angularly spaced relation at equal radial distances from an axis normal to said wall, a cylindrical wall projecting from said annular wall in coaxial relation to said axis and radially outside said openings, said cylindrical wall being arranged for holding said sealed enclosure with said rupturable sheet against said planar wall and with the pills aligned with said openings, a second annular wall parallel -to the first-mentioned annular wall and engaged with one end of said cylindrical wall, means journaling said second annular wall for rotation relative to said first-mentioned annular wall about said axis, and wedge means carried by said second planar wall and having the surface engageable with said flexible sheet for pressing the pills through said openings and through said rupturable sheet.

10. In a dispenser as defined in claim 1, said wedge means being fixedly carried by said manually actuatable means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,240,026 9/1917 Chapman 221-88 2,415,859 2/1947 Ancker 20642 2,512,207 6/1950 Isaac 22179 2,957,604 10/ 1960 Goldman et a1. 22188 3,199,489 8/1965 Ruoss et al 206-42 X ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

WALTER SOBIN, Examiner. 

1. IN A DISPENSER FOR USE WITH A PILL SANDWICHED BETWEEN A FLEXIBLE SHEET AND A RUPTURABLE SHEET BONDED TOGETHER ABOUT THE PILL TO DEFINE A SEALED ENCLOSURE THEREFORE, A GENERALLY PLANAR WALL HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN THE PILL, MEANS FOR HOLDING SAID SEALED ENCLOSURE WITH SAID RUPTURABLE SHEET AGAINST SAID WALL AND WITH THE PILL ALIGNED WITH SAID OPENING, MANUALLY ACTUATABLE MEANS MOVABLE IN A PLANE PARALLEL TO SAID 